CHICAGO – A former patient of an Elk Grove Village medical center alleges he contracted a bacterial infection because of the use of a device during open-chest surgery.
Richard Keeney and Susan Keeney filed a complaint on Nov. 19 in Cook County Circuit Court against Amita Health Alexian Brothers Medical Center Elk Grove Village, and others, alleging negligence.
According to the complaint, on Oct. 27, 2016, Richard Keeney was transferred to Alexian Brothers for surgery to repair his aortic valve. The suit states during the surgery, a Sorin 3T Heater-Cooler device was used and that the device was known to expose patients to mycobacterium chimarea infections.
The suit states that the plaintiff was diagnosed with a mycobacterium chimarea infection in September 2017 at his surgical site.
The plaintiffs allege the defendants failed to implement proper procedures for the prevention of infection to mycobacterium chimarea and failed to conduct active surveillance to document risk of health care-associated infections, including surgical site infections by selected procedures.
The plaintiffs request a trial by jury and seek judgment of more than $50,000. They are represented by Joseph A. Power Jr. and James I. Power of Power Rogers & Smith LLP in Chicago.
Cook County Circuit Court case number 18-L-012559